The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to impose an estimated $1bn of new sanctions on North Korea, in an effort to contain the country’s rapidly expanding nuclear programme.

The US-drafted proposal passed the Security Council 15-0, securing support from North Korean allies China and Russia.

“It is time for North Korea to realise, we are not playing anymore,” said Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, on Fox News programme Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.

She added: “A third of their trade exports have been hit, and we basically gave them a kick in the gut with a billion dollars of sanctions that they are going to begin to feel right away.”
The UN resolution bans all North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It also limits the number of North Koreans permitted to work abroad, and bars countries from entering into new joint ventures with North Korea or investing in current ones.
The resolution also adds nine people and four entities – including North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank – to the UN blacklist.

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“It was a good outcome,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said at an annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila.

“It was a very, very good outcome,” added South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.
However, both China and Russia condemned the US deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea after the vote. China called for the system’s deployment to be halted, and for existing pieces to be dismantled.
The vote comes after a month of private negotiations between the US and China on the issue. US President Donald Trump has criticised the country for not doing enough, tweeting that China had done “NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk”.
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South Korean Ambassador to the UN speaks to members of the security council (Getty)
Earlier this month, the White House moved to start investigating China’s trade practises, in what many saw as retaliation for their perceived inaction on North Korea.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, meeting with North Korea’s top diplomat during the gathering in Manila, issued an uncharacteristically strong warning to the country.
“Do not violate the UN’s decision or provoke international society’s goodwill by conducting missile launching or nuclear tests,” he told the North Korean diplomat.
The White House thanked both China and Russia for their cooperation in a statement, adding: “[Mr Trump] will continue working with allies and partners to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to end its threatening and destabilising behaviour.”